As we have studied 1 John, we have looked at various aspects of Christian fellowship. We have discovered that God created man for fellowship with Him. But as we progress in our fellowship with Christ, the natural result that is going to develop will be love. Love is the natural progression of fellowship. Just as in human relationships, when a man and woman come to know one another, and they have a relationship, the natural development of their continued dating, or fellowship, will be that they fall in love. So it is in our relationship with Christ. We come to know Him as our Savior, and then we have fellowship with Him, and as a result of fellowship, we learn to love Him. And John is going to tell us in these next couple of chapters what that love looks like.

Now as we look at this section, John says when someone becomes a Christian, when someone has fellowship with God and union with Jesus Christ, we can see two characteristics as evidence of that fellowship. Christians who are genuinely born of God manifest the fact that they are born of God by means of righteousness and love. Those are the two basic characteristics of fellowship with God. vs10, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God,” and then comes the next characteristic in verse 10, “nor the one who does not love his brother.”

Last week we looked at righteousness as the first characteristic. We were told in vs.4-10, that he who practices righteousness is righteous. That he who is righteous is born of God. This week we will look at the other characteristic of fellowship, which is love.

We tend to think of these two characteristics as opposite ends of the spectrum. Righteousness and love almost seem to be diametrically opposed, and yet perhaps John is saying we somehow need to have both characteristics, as if they will balance one another out. Our legalism will be mitigated by love, or vis a versa. But the fact is, John is saying that they are correlating virtues. They are not only compatible, they are complimentary. In fact, I will go even further than that and say that one will be incomplete without the other. In other words, you cannot have righteousness without love, and you cannot have love without righteousness.

A Christian who is all about love, but not about righteousness is not truly loving. For Jesus said, “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And one who would claim to be righteous, but does not exhibit love, cannot be righteous, because Jesus said in Matt. 22:37 “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

So both characteristics must be working conjointly and are dependent upon one another. Now let’s look at vs. 11; “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” Notice first of all, that this statement is repetitive. John uses this type of statement again and again in this letter, to emphasize that this is not some new thing he is teaching, but it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which was the gospel from the beginning. Look at chapter 1:1, He says we are proclaiming “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.”

Chapter 1vs5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you…” Chapter 2vs7, “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.” And now in chapter 3 vs.11; “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

Now in saying this, he is saying that his message is the same as from the beginning of their faith, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ which leads to salvation. And the reason he makes this point is because as the church matured the message of the gospel had been diluted, it had been altered, and things had been left out. False teachers had crept into the church in John’s day, just as there are today, who had twisted the truth of the gospel. Just like very often is the case today, the message had become that if you simply professed Christianity, if you merely had some sort of “religious” experience, or if you simply named the name of Christ, you were good to go. They were teaching that you could have Christianity and still have the world. You could claim to love God, and yet still love the world. Nothing had to really change. But John says that isn’t the true faith. That is not real fellowship with God.

So he reiterates the original message of the gospel; that we should love one another. Now remember what I said earlier; John is saying love and righteousness go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. Now let’s break this down for a moment, because I am afraid that the world has co-opted the word love and the church has taken it’s definition from the world instead of from the scriptures. And so it needs some explanation.

Christian love is loving God first with all your heart and soul and strength and mind. The second part of that is that you love your neighbor as yourself. These are the two foremost commandments in the Bible. Some of the commandments we are no longer under obligation to keep, primarily ceremonial in nature, which have been fulfilled in Christ. We no longer have to offer animal sacrifices for instance, because they are fulfilled in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But the moral law of God still stands. Though we have been justified from the penalty of the law, we still are to keep the commandments, because they express the will of God, and they establish righteousness. So if we are to practice righteousness, as John says in vs.7, then we must keep these commandments which delineate righteousness. Righteousness has to be defined by the law. Thus if we practice righteousness according to vs.7, then we keep His commandments.

When a person is born of God by faith in Christ it produces a right relationship with God, based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who was righteous. That relationship in which we are declared righteous, provides the basis for our fellowship with God. Now we can abide with Him, we can obey Him, we follow Him, we walk in the light as He is in the light. That is fellowship. Fellowship is growing to know Him, to walk with Him, to become like Him. And that fellowship with God produces as the outcome our love for God and for His body.

Now as I alluded to earlier, when a man and a woman are dating, they are getting to know one another. They have a relationship, but now they have fellowship. They spend time together, getting to know one another. And in the process they develop a love for one another. And when that love is really developed, it is characterized by a surrendering of themselves to one another. They give everything and everyone else up, and surrender completely to one another. That is the zenith of romantic love. When you reach that point in your relationship, there is a joy that cannot be described. There is nothing you want more than to be with that person. It doesn’t matter what you have or don’t have, it doesn’t matter if you have any money to go out to dinner with or not. You can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches together on a beach towel and be blissfully happy and content.

Well, that’s a picture of fellowship with the Lord, which produces our love for the Lord. And when we surrender everything to Him, we can have that joy of our salvation that exceeds anything that this world can offer. But we know that God is Spirit. Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sits at the throne of God. We love spiritually as Christians, but we also desire a physical element to love. And so God has designed His church to be His body. His Spirit occupies His people. So as we express our love spiritually to Him, we also express our love physically to His body, which is the church. This is why we love one another. It is the way we show our love for Him.

Now as I said, John is confronting false teaching in the church, and so he gives us a series of tests, or evidences of real Christianity. We have been looking at them in detail for several weeks now. But once again, as he reiterates this basic doctrine of love which is the result of real fellowship with God, he says this is not a new message, it’s the same message from God which is from the beginning.

And to illustrate that, he goes back not just to the beginning of Christ’s ministry, or even the beginning of their salvation, but he goes back to the beginning of the Bible, to the beginning of the human race. He gives us an illustration from the first two men born after creation, who are Cain and Abel. Now John is going to give us an illustration in the negative to prove a positive. He is illustrating what love is not, what is not righteous and so he shows us a negative contrast to love which is when Cain murdered his brother. John loves to use contrasts in his gospel; the contrast of light and darkness, truth and a lie, righteousness and lawlessness, and love and hate. These contrasts he uses as a literary technique to show us the difference between those born of God and those who are born of the devil.

John makes it clear that one who is born of God will exhibit the characteristics of God. And those born of the devil, exhibit the character of their father the devil. If the devil is a liar, then they will lie. If the devil is a murderer, then they will be murderers. Jesus said to the Jews in John 8:44 ”You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So this is the language of Christ, it’s not some new thing that John has conjured up. It’s not the language that I would necessarily have the courage to confront someone with. It’s very strong language. But it is the language of Christ, and thus it is the language of God. It is the message of God which is from the beginning.

This nature of the devil which is that of a liar and a murderer, was instilled in Adam and Eve when they spurned the word of God and did what was right in their own eyes. Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And so when Adam and Eve had children, that sin nature became their nature, and as such it has passed down to all men and women. And John tells us here that Cain “was of the evil one”, that is, he had the nature of the devil, he was born of the devil, and he slew his brother.

Now why did Cain slay Abel, his brother? The answer is in vs.12, “Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.” You remember the story in Genesis 4, Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruits of his labor. He was a farmer, and he brought the fruit of his farming as an offering to the Lord. Listen, we can never achieve righteousness on the basis of our own merits, on the basis of our labor. Our own efforts are inculcated with pride in our accomplishments. Righteousness derived from our own labor can never be acceptable to God. And so God did not regard Cain’s offering.

Cain evidently thought he would gain merit by his deed of bringing his good works to God. He’s indicative of the kind of person who thinks God must be pleased with however I choose to worship Him. But Jesus told us that those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And truth is revealed in God’s word, not according to your cultural template, or according to your imagination.

Abel brought an offering as well. He was a herdsman, and so he brought a lamb from his flock. He slaughtered the lamb and offered it upon an altar. And God had regard for Abel’s offering, because it was an offering of faith. Abel exhibited saving faith in that he offered a spotless lamb as an offering for sin, which was a prototype of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. And God credited Abel’s faith as righteousness, but He did not regard Cain’s offering.

That message is as pertinent today as it was then. God will not accept our works and our labors as righteousness. The righteousness God accepts is the righteousness of our substitute, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain for our sins. By that death, we are made righteous, and so we now practice what we have become by faith, we practice righteousness.

But when God did not accept Cain’s offering, Cain became angry with his brother. In effect, he was angry with God but he took it out on his brother. He hated him, and that led him to murder his brother. Rather than repent of his sin, and do what was right, Cain acted like his father the devil and hated his brother, which resulted in murdering him.

So in light of that illustration, John says we should not be surprised if the world hates us that are believers. If we are practicing righteousness, then don’t be surprised if the world, who is practicing evil deeds, hates us. Because true righteousness makes them feel convicted. But rather than repent at their conviction of their sins, they love their sin and hate that which condemns it as sin.

Listen, the world hates righteousness. Because the natural state of man is selfishness. To love righteousness is contrary to their nature, and their natural condition is to love themselves more than others. Love in our fallen nature is always twisted and distorted and centered upon self. Therefore, the love of an unbeliever is really a love of ourselves. We love our children because they are extensions of us. We love our father or mother because our life is related to theirs. We love those who please us, we love those who help us, we love those who somehow fulfill us. If you observe human nature you will see how true this is. Love from a human standpoint is always based on reciprocality. What someone can do for me. Thus human love is self-centered. And their hatred is for anything or anyone that threatens their goal of self fulfillment.

So John restates this contrast between the children of God and the children of the devil once again. He says those who are born again of God love the brethren. But those who are born of the devil hates his brother. Look at vs. 14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

The phrase, “we have passed out of death into life, is another way of saying you are born again. You have passed from the old man, the way that leads to death, the nature of the evil one, you have passed out of that, and have been given new life, a new nature, and new characteristics of your Father in heaven. But if you do not love your brother, then it is evident that you are still dead in your sins. You abide in death. You are still dead spiritually.

Listen, what John is reiterating is that there will be a transformation when you are born again. You will not be perfect, but you will have a desire to be perfect, because Christ is perfect. You will want to be like Christ, because you want to be with Christ. You desire fellowship with Christ. And so this new nature which is born of the Spirit of Christ works in you that which is pleasing to God. But those that don’t have that kind of transformation in their hearts, will show it by their selfish, sinful nature, which actually results in hatred for their brethren. In fact, he says those that hate their brother do not have eternal life abiding in him. They are not born again. They are still dead in their sins.

And notice one other thing. John equates hatred with murder. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Jesus said the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to how Jesus qualifies this kind of hateful nature. Jesus said in Matt. 5:21-22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” In other words, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If he hates his brother, even if he is angry with his brother, he is as guilty as if he committed the sin of murder.

Listen, this is how the Lord can say that love for God and your neighbor is the basis for all the law, the summation of all the law. If you love your neighbor, you will not steal from him. If you love your neighbor you will not bear false witness against him. If you love your neighbor, you will not covet his stuff, you will not commit adultery with his wife, and you certainly will not kill him. All of the law is based on the two overarching principles of loving God and loving your neighbor.

However, Christian love is correlated with righteousness and obedience, and not just sentimentality. We are called to a higher standard of love as Christians than what the world considers love. We are called to a sacrificial love, not a selfish love. We are to love one another as Christ has loved us. He humbled Himself to serve our needs. He laid aside His glory so that we might be glorified. He took upon Himself our punishment that we might be set free. And that is the standard of love we are to have for our brother.

Now as we progress in the next few weeks in this study we will look at practical ways in which we express that love for our brothers. But let me just give you a couple as a preview. This Christian love is the standard of love which we are to have in marriage. We are to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Wives are to love their husbands as unto the Lord. Marital love is to be a picture of Christ’s love for the church. We don’t love our wives as long as she treats me right, but the moment she takes me for granted I’m out of here. How many times have we taken our Lord’s love for us for granted? Love seeks not it’s own. We love one another sacrificially, even as Christ laid down His life for the church.

One more practical application of this principle and I’m done. How do you love your brethren? You love the body of Christ. You love His church. You love His people. You serve one another. You support the body of Christ. You share time with His body. You join to His body. You belong to His church. You fellowship with His body. You pray for His body. If you love your brother you will share the gospel with them. And when you do that, you will find joy in your salvation. Joy comes through serving, not being served. Church is not just a place to be served, but it is a place to serve one another and edify the kingdom of God which is the people of God.

On the other hand, hate for your brother may just be ignoring Christ’s body. Turning your back on his church. Not caring about His people. That constitutes hatred according to vs.17.
“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Just ignoring Christ’s body is a form of self love and hatred of others. Well, we will talk more of that next week. Until then, let us love God by loving one another and practicing righteousness.